Georgian president signs anti-discrimination law

TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian president has signed a new anti-discrimination law, and it has therefore come into force.

The Georgian Orthodox Church was against the law because it in their opinion ‘legalizes homosexuality’, and wanted to remove ‘sexual orientation’ from the list that specifies different types of discrimination that is prohibited.

Georgian Dream, the governing coalition, emphasized the need to pass the law before mid April, in time before the signing of an association agreement with the European Union.

Although not removing the phrase ‘sexual orientation’, parliament added a paragraph about protecting the public moral. The law was passed in the end with with 115 votes against none.

It was first reported 104 votes for and one against, but after voting had ended several members of parliament said they too voted for but pressed the button too late. One of them said he voted for, but the screen showed him voting against. The protocol ended up saying that 115 voted for the law and none against.

The law has now been published on legislative herald, Matsne.

Patriarch Ilia II said that no believer will accept the law in the form that was adopted.